BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
Friday morning I was as giddy as a you can imagine, with the thought of getting an up close and personal view of the buildings which make up Daniel Pratt’s Cotton Gin Factory in Prattville.
To know that years of hard work by countless individuals and organizations is saving the buildings from ruin makes me incredibly happy.
I am not from this area, but we moved here as soon as we could!
After 911, my husband decided to reenlist in the military. So many did back then. He was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base, and we found a home here. Within days of settling in, we ventured out to explore and found ourselves in downtown Prattville.
I saw the rubble from an obviously horrific fire. With absolutely no knowledge at that time of what it had been, or what had happened, my heart still hurt. It would only be a month or so later and I went to work for the Prattville Progress that I really began to learn the entirety of that loss.
I love history, so I immersed myself in Prattville’s. On stressful days at the office, I would sneak out the back door to walk down Hunt’s Alley, then to Court Street, making a left down to Heritage Park. I would stare at the spillway with the remaining Pratt buildings as the backdrop and just try to imagine what life must have been like then. I could imagine Daniel Pratt staring out of one of those windows, looking down on the city he created.
But I never toured the facility. Until Friday.
I want to give a tremendous thank you to former HPRA Chairman Bradley Neave and Alec Whaley, of Whaley Construction, for making that happen. With the groundbreaking ceremony over and the crowd beginning to disperse, I donned a hard hat and was so filled with excitement.
I had watched these buildings from afar, but truly did not appreciate their scale until I was up close and inside.
I talked with Alec Whaley about what construction on these massive structures would have taken back in the mid-1800s. He marveled at what was accomplished back then, saying that in our modern times there are all types of equipment, programs, and methods. But in those times, it was much more difficult. Just the architecture itself, and the strength of how the buildings were constructed, is pretty amazing. While they have aged, and certainly deteriorated to a degree, they have withstood the test of time.
Now with the loving care of area historians, agencies, the City of Prattville, individuals, Envolve, Whaley Construction, and Chambless King Architects they are coming back to life. There is no way I can thank everyone involved in finally making this incredibly important preservation happen. It has been a long process, with headaches and obstacles I can’t even speak of intelligently. But I thank you.
There are a million stories that could be told about Daniel Pratt, his industry, and the families that worked at the factory. Hopefully we will be telling those stories for some time to come. The entire picture is just too large to sum up in one article.
Thank you Bradley Neave and Alec Whaley. You have no idea how much it meant to me. You also have no idea how afraid of heights I am. That metal bridge from one building to the next was….shall I say….challenging?
But the views of Prattville’s historic downtown, Spillway and Mill Pond are breathtaking. I can only dream of having an apartment there one day that overlooks the water. I stood by a window and listened to Autauga Creek rolling over the spillway. Imagine having an apartment there, and having that sound lull you to sleep. Oh, my.
In his address to the more than 100 people who attended the groundbreaking, Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie spoke of Pratt, buried up on the hill overlooking his creation. What would he think of all of this progress, how the city has grown? We can only imagine.
I hope you enjoy the photos. There were “professional” photographers there, and I will certainly be sharing their photos as well in other articles. I just wanted to give those, like me, a chance to glimpse into the buildings and the properties if you have never had the opportunity. The work that has already been done to reinforce the buildings is staggering. Some new walls are already being constructed. Well over 500 windows will be refurbished, not replaced. Because of the history of the building, workers are maintaining the historical character as much as possible, so the rippled windows will be repaired and put back. There is actually a glass factory on site to do the work.
During the reconstruction process, many hidden treasures were discovered. Thanks to people like Ann Boutwell and so many others, they are now preserved. There is hope that one day they will be on display in a new museum.
This is an amazing project that so many feared would never happen. At one point there was talk of the former owners dismantling the buildings and selling them off piece by piece. Thank goodness, wiser heads ruled and knew the importance of preservation, not destruction.
Again, huge thanks to each and every individual who played a part in this. May those buildings and the legacy of Daniel Pratt continue to thrive, just in a new form.
Sarah Stephens is the founder of the Elmore/Autauga News and can be reached at editorsarah@yahoo.com
See More Photos Below.
